On 20 January 2022, José Luis Anguita found a sociable lapwing (Vanellus gregarius) together with common lapwings in a rice field in La Puebla del Río, in the surroundings of Doñana. The bird remained in the same area until at least 30 January. We were able to observe it on 21 and 27 January. The Sociable Lapwing is a vagrant in Spain that nests in the steppes located between southern

Read More

This is our personal selection of the top 60 bird species that you can observe during a birdwatching tour in Andalucía, with information about the status, the phelonogy and a recommendation of the best day trips to observe them. You can see here the criteria we have followed to select them. Marbled Duck Marmaronetta angustirostris Status in Andalusia: At the end of the 19th century it was the most abundant

Read More

The genus Lanius has 27 species widespread in Eurasia, Africa and North America. In Doñana and its surroundings, we can see two regular species, the Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator) and the Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis).  During January 2020, a first winter Isabelline Shrike was found in El Rocío (Doñana National Park). The Isabelline Shrike (Lanius isabellinus) breeds mainly in Mongolia and China. It is a migratory bird with its wintering grounds located in India,

Read More

The Grazalema and Ronda Mountains are a complex of mountain ranges located in the north of the counties of Cádiz and Málaga. Most of this area is protected as a Natural Park, Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park in Málaga (20.163 ha) and Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park in Cádiz (53.411 ha). The main habitats are steep rocky areas and Mediterranean scrubland and forest. We must highlight also the "Pinsapar"

Read More

The year 2019 is gone and it’s time to take a look back to all we saw along the year during our tours to Doñana. It was a very dry year in Doñana, but that wasn’t a problem to see a long list of species (226). We can highlight this year, observations of Western Reef Heron, Lesser Flamingo, Richard’s Pipit and increasing observations of Pallid Harrier. Here is the complete

Read More

Sierra Norte of Sevilla is part of Sierra Morena, the mountain range located in the north of Andalusia, from Jaén to Huelva. A part of this territory (177.500 hectares) is protected as Natural Park. Joining the neigbouring natural parks of Sierra Morena, they form the biggest protected area in all Europe. The main habitats are Mediterranean scrubland and forest. A big part of the former forest was converted to "Dehesas",

Read More

The last 18th October we were lucky to saw one adult male Pallid Harrier in Northern Doñana. It was a short observation of the bird flying low and fast close to "la Escupidera" area. The following days we were unable to relocate the bird, so it probably continued its southward migration. The main nesting range of the Pallid Harrier is Eastern Europe and Asia, and the main winter quarters are

Read More

Throughout  Europe, we can find up to 38 species of diurnal raptors, and practically all of them are migratory, at least in part of their European range. Some of these migrations are short, but others involve movements of thousands of kilometers.  These movements require enormous energy consumption for birds, and they are competing for their survival. In order to minimize energy consumption, the diurnal raptors with bigger wing surface migrate

Read More

More than 400 species of birds have been recorded in the natural space of Doñana and its surroundings. This is the result of the great diversity of existing habitats: marshes, rivers and streams, pine and cork oak forests, scrublands, mobile and fossil dune beaches, rice fields and other crops.... With this diversity of birds it is difficult to highlight just 10 of them, but this is our personal selection among

Read More

In late April we could watch several times an exemplar of egret with aberrant plumage in Northern Doñana, at Entremuros area (Seville). This bird shows grey feathers in diferent parts of their plumage. Nowadays, this egrets with partially grey plumages are considered hybrids involving Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) and Western Reef Egret (Egretta gularis). The LittLe Egret is a heron really common in Doñana, distributed mainly along Europe, Asia and

Read More